Co-op shelves emptying in Badenoch and Strathspey after cyber-attack on national retailer
Concerns are growing over food supplies at the strath’s Coop stores following this week’s cyber-attack.
As shelves became emptier over the hours, local community events were affected and on Tuesday morning pleas were made to various organisations to step in.
Kingussie’s community council chairman Ruaridh Ormiston told the Strathy: “We have been asking for information as we are all concerned about the food shortages in both Kingussie and Newtonmore for the elderly.”
Local staff could only refer the Strathy to the central press office where Cooperative Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq, issued this statement:
“We are currently experiencing significant disruption following a cyber-attack on our Co-op. We want to be open with member-owners.
“The criminals that are perpetrating these attacks are highly sophisticated and our colleagues are working tirelessly to do three things: (1) protect and defend our Co-op, (2) fully understand the extent of the impact caused by the attack and (3) provide much needed information to the authorities that may help them with their investigations.
“Actively managing the severity of the attack has meant shutting down some of our systems to protect the organisation.
That said, our front-line colleagues are focused on minimising any disruption that might be experienced by our members and customers.
“As previously communicated, we have established that the cyber criminals were able to access a limited amount of member data. This is obviously extremely distressing for our colleagues and members, and I am very sorry this happened. We recognise the importance of data protection and take our obligations to you and our regulators seriously, particularly as a member-owned organisation.
“I appreciate you will want to know more, and I hope you will understand that in order to protect our Co-op, we are limited as to the detail we can communicate at this time. I thank you for your patience and I will be back in touch as soon as possible.”
On Kingussie High Street one shopper this afternoon observed; “It seems to be fruit and veg they are short of more than anything else.
“Definitely other items missing but fruit and veg mainly I’d say.”
